Many Christians today think that faith is our contribution to God’s saving work. God does everything except this last little bit: you must believe; you must accept Christ; God wants to save you, but he cannot or will not exercise his power to make you come to him; you must exercise your free will and choose him. But this is contrary to John 6:44: No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
One corollary of that verse in John is that faith is a gift of God. You cannot come unless you believe. God’s drawing is by the power of his word which, along with the presence of the Holy Spirit, causes faith. You cannot believe unless God creates belief in you. Your will is corrupt, your mind dark. You are dead in trespasses and sins. You cannot respond to God positively. All the answers that arise naturally in you are rebellion and rejection. Unless God makes you alive and gives you faith, you will never be saved.
There are many Scriptures that teach or imply that faith is indeed God’s gift (Lk. 22:32, Acts 3:15, Rom. 1:8, 10:17, 12:3, 1 Thes. 3:10, Jam. 2:5), but there are three that stand out.
The first is Ephesians 1:19 where Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that he is praying for them that they may know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. Another way to translate that would be, according to the working of the might of His strength. Paul puts enormous emphasis on the power of God and says that we believe only because of it. No other power is great enough to create faith in us.
The second is Ephesians 2:8: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. The reference of the word that is not clear either in English or Greek. Commentators have taken three positions on it. The first is that it refers to saved; and saved not of yourselves… That seems the least likely to me because saved is the word most remote from that in the sentence, also in Greek. And, if that position is meant to leave open the possibility that salvation is God’s work but faith ours, it runs counter to Paul’s whole argument in verses 1–10. We were dead, but God made us alive, raised us, seated us with Christ, multiplied his grace to us, recreated us, and prepared good works for us. God did it all. Shall we say then that Paul is making room here for us to have a hand in our salvation? Are we to have some ground for boasting after all? The second possibility is that that refers to faith; and faith not of yourselves… That would be a strong argument for the point of this article. Nevertheless, I prefer the third interpretation; the word that refers to the whole clause. Saved by grace through faith is seen as a package, and the whole packed is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. Salvation, grace and faith are gifts he gives.
The third is Philippians 1:29, to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. The word here translated as granted is not the Greek word for give (didomi), but the word for give graciously, the word which is, in fact, a cognate of the word for grace: to you it have been graciously given… to believe in Him. Faith is a gift of grace.
So we must learn to attribute even our faith to the grace of God, and to pray with the father of the demoniac boy, Lord, I believe; Help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24) and with the apostles themselves, Increase our faith (Lk. 17:5). God alone saves.